Americanization
Americanization or Americanisation (see
The
United States-based commercial enterprises operating internationally are also associated with Americanization. Notably,
During the Cold War, Americanization was the primary soft power method chosen to counter the polar process of Sovietization around the world. Education, schools, and particularly universities became the main target for Americanization. Resistance to Americanization within the university community restrained its effectiveness,[13] though it was still much more successful than Sovietization.[14]: 6 Americanization has become more prevalent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which left America as the world's sole superpower (the full soft power of China as a potential competing influence has yet to manifest within Occidental pop culture). Americanization found yet another gear with the advent of widespread high-speed Internet use in the mid-2000s (notably heavily censored in China).
Criticism of Americanization has included opposition to U.S. investments in Europe during the 1960s,[15] which subsided by the 1970s.[16] A new dimension of anti-Americanism is fear of the pervasiveness of American Internet technology.[17]
Definitions
Like many concepts in social sciences, the term has been called ambiguous, however, a rough consensus on its meaning exists. Harm G. Schröter who focused on the economic dimension of the process, defined it as "an adapted transfer of values, behaviours, institutions, technologies, patterns of organization, symbols and norms from the [United States] to the economic life of other states".[14]: 3–4 Mel van Elteren defined this in a negative way, as "a process in which economic, technological, political, social, cultural and/or socio–psychological influences emanating from America or Americans impinge on values, norms, belief systems, mentalities, habits, rules, technologies, practices, institutions and behaviors of non-Americans".[18]: 103
Media and popular culture
Hollywood, the American film and television industry, has since the 1910s dominated most of the world's media markets. It is the chief medium by which people across the globe see American fashions, customs, scenery, and way of life.[8] The major film studios of the United States are the primary source of the most commercially successful and most ticket selling movies in the world.[19][20] The top 50 highest-grossing films of all time were all made entirely or partially in the United States.[7][8]
In general, the
Despite the
The importation of Little Golden Books (Petits Livres d'Or) to France under the publisher Cocorico after World War II is discussed as a subtle way of implementing cultural productions that "presented the economic principles of American liberalism in a favorable light" in a study by Cécile Boulaire.[24]
Foreign versions of American
American films have been historically extremely popular around the world and often dominate cinemas as a result of a high demand of U.S. product exported to consumers to clear away the outlook of World War II.
Many American musicians, such as
By the study of vocabulary and spelling of English words in books and tweets, American English is more common in communities of the European Union than British English. This trend is more apparent in the events after World War II and the end of the Soviet Union.[30]
Business and brands
Many of the world's
Many of the world's biggest computer companies are also U.S.-based, such as Microsoft, Apple, Intel, HP Inc., Dell, and IBM, and much of the software bought worldwide is created by U.S.-based companies. Carayannis and Campbell note, "The [United States] occupies, also in global terms, a very strong position in the software sector."[32]
Even as far back as 1900, some observers saw "Americanization" as synonymous with progress and innovation.
Department stores threatened the more local businesses, with low prices and chain-managed stores. The small businesses were determined and fought back to protect their source of income from the U.S. market.[35]
During the Cold War, Americanization was the method to counter the processes of Sovietization around the world. Education, schools, and particularly universities became the main target for Americanization. However, resistance to Americanization of the university community restrained it,[13] although it was still much more successful than Sovietization.[14]: 6
Visibility
From 1950 to 1965, American investments in Europe soared by 800% to $13.9 billion, and in the European Economic Community they rose ten times to $6.25 billion. Europe's share of American investments increased from 15% to 28%. The investments were of very high visibility and generated much talk of Americanization. Even so, American investments in Europe represented only 50% of the total European investment and American-owned companies in the European Economic Community employ only 2 or 3% of the total labor force. The basic reason for U.S. investments is no longer lower production costs, faster economic growth, or higher profits in Europe but the desire to maintain a competitive position based largely on American technological superiority. Opposition to U.S. investments was originally confined to France but later spread to other European countries. Public opinion began to resent American advertising and business methods, personnel policies, and the use of the English language by American companies. Criticism was also directed toward the international currency system which was blamed for inflationary tendencies as a result of the dominant position of the U.S. dollar.[15] However, by the 1970s, European investments in the U.S. had increased even more rapidly than vice versa, and Geir Lundestad finds there was less talk of the Americans buying Europe.[16]
Recent trends
Americanization has become more prevalent since the
A new dimension of anti-Americanism is fear of the pervasiveness of American Internet technology. Americanization has arrived through widespread high-speed Internet and smartphone technology since 2008, with a large fraction of the new apps and hardware being designed in Silicon Valley.[17] In Europe, there is growing concern about excess Americanization through Google, Facebook, Twitter, the iPhone, and Uber, among many other American Internet-based corporations. European governments have increasingly expressed concern about privacy issues, as well as antitrust and taxation issues regarding the new American giants. There is a fear that they are significantly evading taxes and posting information that may violate European privacy laws.[38] The Wall Street Journal in 2015 reported "deep concerns in Europe's highest policy circles about the power of U.S. technology companies."[39]
Historiography
The Americanization of the
In 1902 the British journalist William Stead used this term in the title of his book, The Americanization of the World, in which he discussed the growing popularity of the "American ideas".[5]
Berghahn (2010) analyzes the debate on the usefulness of the concepts of 'Americanization' and 'Westernization'. He reviews the recent research on the European–American relationship during the Cold War that has dealt with the cultural influence of the United States upon Europe. He then discusses the relevant work on this subject in the fields of economic and business history. Overall, the article tries to show that those who have applied the concept of 'Americanization' to their research on cultural or economic history have been well aware of the complexities of trans-Atlantic relations in this period, whether they were viewed as a two-way exchange or as a process of circulation.[5]
Criticism
Some critics believe that the result of the rivalry between
See also
- American culture in the arts and literature
- American Dream
- American imperialism
- Americanization (immigration)
- Amerika (song)
- Anti-American sentiment
- American stereotypes
- Americana
- Cocacolonization
- Cultural imperialism
- Debates over Americanization
- Empire of Liberty
- Military globalization
- Neo-colonialism
- Propaganda in the United States
- McDonaldization
- Pax Americana
- Soft Power
- Westernization
- Indigenization
References
- JSTOR 30245529.
- ^ Fraser, Nick (November 2, 2014). "How the World Was Won: The Americanization of Everywhere review – a brilliant essay". The Observer. Retrieved October 22, 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
- ISBN 9780853239185. Retrieved October 22, 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Stead, W. T. (1901). The Americanization of the World. Horace Markley. p. 393.
- ^ S2CID 144459911.
- ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781412974202.
- ^ ISBN 9781134344307.
- ^ Criteria for determining a movie's country of origin are mutable and subjective but are, in practice, based on fiscal contribution and head office locations, which creates a significant advantage for a country with the money and industrial support structure - i.e. Hollywood - to fund large-scale motion pictures)
- ^ "British Films on the Brink of Americanization". May 28, 2015.
- ^ a b "The Coca-Cola Company". NYSE Euronext. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2007.
- ^ a b c "Global 500". Fortune. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
- ^ a b Natalia Tsvetkova. Failure of American and Soviet Cultural Imperialism in German Universities, 1945–1990. Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2013
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4020-2934-9.
- ^ a b Niels Grosse, "American Investments In Europe," Europa-Archiv, 1967, Vol. 22 Issue 1, pp. 23–32
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-928397-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85323-928-4.
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- ISBN 9780750686839. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
- ISBN 9781317623380. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
- ^ Jessica C.E. Gienow-Hecht, "Art is democracy and democracy is art: Culture, propaganda, and the Neue Zeitung in Germany", Diplomatic History (1999) 23#1 pp. 21–43
- ^ Maynes, Charles (February 1, 2020). "McDonald's Marks 30 Years in Russia". Voice of America. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
- ^ "McDonald's Cohon wary as market share slips: Charity book details struggle in Russia". The Spectator. Hamilton ON. Canadian Press. October 25, 1997. p. B4.
- ^ Boulaire, Cécile (2023). "The Little Golden Books in the Shadow of the CIA, or the Americanization of Children's Publishing in Cold War France." Book History 26 (fall): 390-418.
- ^ "CSI show 'most popular show in the world'". BBC. July 31, 2006. Archived from the original on September 2, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-19-937102-0.
- ^ "Dual forces fuel Mexican film industry". Adelante. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". Elvis.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- ^ "Jackos Back". MTV. Archived from the original on September 16, 2007. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- PMID 29799872.
- ^ Karen DeBres, "A Cultural Geography of McDonald's UK," Journal of Cultural Geography, 2005
- ^ Elias G. Carayannis and David F. J. Campbell, Mode 3 Knowledge Production in Quadruple Helix Innovation Systems (2011) p. 42
- ^ Noland (1975)
- ^ Mary Nolan, "Housework Made Easy: the Taylorized Housewife in Weimar Germany's Rationalized Economy," Feminist Studies. Volume: 16. Issue: 3. pp. 549+
- ISBN 9780199371020.
- ISBN 978-3-86153-335-1.
- ^ Zachary Karabell, "The Upside of a 'De-Americanized' World: A reduced U.S. role is still a lot more powerful than 100 emerging markets, but it would force even greater internal focus for the U.S." The Atlantic 17 Oct. 2013 Archived June 28, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ See ["Google under fire in Europe over user privacy concerns" Toronto Star 8 April 2015 Archived December 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Tom Fairless, "Europe’s Digital Czar Slams Google, Facebook," Wall Street Journal 24 Feb. 2015 Archived July 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
- better source needed]
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- ^ ISBN 0-8078-6067-0.
- ISBN 978-1-139-56980-4.
Further reading
- Abdulrahim, Masoud A., Ali A. J. Al-Kandari, and Mohammed Hasanen, “The Influence of American Television Programs on University Students in Kuwait: A Synthesis,” European Journal of American Culture 28 (no. 1, 2009), 57–74.
- Andrew Anglophone (Ed.), "Californication and Cultural Imperialism: Baywatch and the Creation of World Culture", 1997, Point Sur: Malibu University Press, .
- Campbell, Neil, Jude Davies and George McKay, eds. Issues in Americanisation and Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004.
- DeBres, Karen. "A Cultural Geography of McDonald's UK," Journal of Cultural Geography, 2005
- Fehrenbach, Heide, and Uta G. Poiger. "Americanization Reconsidered," in idem, eds., Transactions, Transgressions, Transformations: American Culture in Western Europe and Japan (2000)
- Glancy, Mark. Hollywood and the Americanization of Britain, from the 1920s to the present (I.B. Tauris, 2013), 340 pages, ISBN 978-1-84885-407-9
- Glancy, Mark. "Temporary American citizens? British audiences, Hollywood films and the threat of Americanization in the 1920s." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (2006) 26#4 pp. 461–84.
- Gräser, Marcus Model America, EGO - European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: March 8, 2021.
- Haines, Gerald K. The Americanization of Brazil: A Study of U.S.Cold War Diplomacy in the Third World, 1945–54, Scholarly Resources, 1993
- Hendershot, Robert M. Family Spats: Perception, Illusion, and Sentimentality in the Anglo-American Special Relationship (2008)
- Hilger, Susanne: The Americanisation of the European Economy after 1880, Institute of European History, 2012, retrieved: June 6, 2012.
- Kroes, Rob. "American empire and cultural imperialism: A view from the receiving end." Diplomatic History 23.3 (1999): 463-477 online.
- Martn, Lawrence. Pledge of Allegiance: The Americanization of Canada in the Mulroney Years, Mcclelland & Stewart Ltd, 1993, ISBN 0-7710-5663-X
- Malchow, H.L. Special Relations: The Americanization of Britain? (Stanford University Press; 2011) 400 pages; explores American influence on the culture and counterculture of metropolitan London from the 1950s to the 1970s, from "Swinging London" to black, feminist, and gay liberation. excerpt and text search
- Moffett, Samuel E. The Americanization of Canada (1907) full text online
- Nolan, Mary. Visions of Modernity: American Business and the Modernization of Germany (1995)
- Nolan, Mary. "Housework Made Easy: the Taylorized Housewife in Weimar Germany's Rationalized Economy," Feminist Studies. Volume: 16. Issue: 3. pp. 549+
- Pells, Richard. Not like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated and Transformed American Culture since World War II (1997) online
- Reynolds, David. Rich relations: the American occupation of Britain, 1942-1945 (1995)
- Rydell, Robert W., Rob Kroes: Buffalo Bill in Bologna. The Americanization of the World, 1869–1922, ISBN 0-226-73242-8
- Willett, Ralph. The Americanization of Germany, 1945–1949 (1989)
- Zenklusen, Stefan: A Look Back at a Quarter Century of Globalization - Verifying the Thesis of Anglo-Americanization, Göttingen 2020, ISBN 978-3-7369-7273-5
Historiography
- Berghahn, Volker R. "The debate on 'Americanization' among economic and cultural historians," Cold War History, Feb 2010, 10#1, pp. 107–30
- Kuisel, Richard F. "The End of Americanization? or Reinventing a Research Field for Historians of Europe" Journal of Modern History 92#3 (Sept 2020) pp 602–634 online.